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Whimsical sugar skull needlepoint pattern

Intermediate · 9 colors · 4 × 4 in · 18 mesh

Shape: Its own border · Colors: Pink petals, teal eyesChange

Whimsical sugar skull, square: 72 by 72 stitches in tent stitch.

Download free PDFPDF, US Letter · 28 KB

A white skull faces front with pink petals around its teal eyes, an orange cross and green leaves on its forehead, and a mouth sewn shut. It sits on dark purple inside a thin white line and a green edge.

Size and details

The chart is 72 × 72 stitches: a square ornament on 18 mesh canvas.

Worked in tent stitch throughout.

Intermediate: 9 colors. With 8 or 9 colors, a design is Intermediate, while 7 or fewer can be Beginner and 10 or more can be Advanced.

Shape and border

Its own border

Colors

Sizes on each mesh
MeshStitched sizeCanvas to cut
107.2 × 7.2 in
18.3 × 18.3 cm		11.2 × 11.2 in
28.4 × 28.4 cm
126 × 6 in
15.2 × 15.2 cm		10 × 10 in
25.4 × 25.4 cm
135.5 × 5.5 in
14.1 × 14.1 cm		9.5 × 9.5 in
24.2 × 24.2 cm
145.1 × 5.1 in
13.1 × 13.1 cm		9.1 × 9.1 in
23.2 × 23.2 cm
184 × 4 in
10.2 × 10.2 cm		8 × 8 in
20.3 × 20.3 cm

Mesh is the number of canvas threads to the inch; the row in bold is the mesh this chart is sized for. Canvas to cut includes a margin of 2 in (5.1 cm) of bare canvas on every side. Leave at least that much.

Paper for the PDF

Threads and canvas

Pink petals, teal eyes

  • DMC 550 Very Dark Violet 2,058 stitches about 15 yards
  • DMC 702 Kelly Green 1,358 stitches about 10 yards
  • DMC BLANC White 1,232 stitches about 9 yards
  • DMC 602 Medium Cranberry 256 stitches about 2 yards
  • DMC 3844 Dark Bright Turquoise 112 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 310 Black 92 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 970 Light Pumpkin 42 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 3837 Ultra Dark Lavender 22 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 726 Light Topaz 12 stitches about 1 yard

5,184 stitches in the chart, about 41 yards in all. The yards are estimates for 18 mesh.

Thread colors are approximate screen matches to DMC numbers. Check against real thread before you buy.

The numbers are DMC color numbers, which its six-strand cotton and its pearl cotton share. Wool and silk are numbered differently: match those by eye. For how many strands and which needle, see which thread suits which mesh.

The yards are of thread as it is threaded in the needle: stitched with several strands together, a thread takes that many yards of single strand for every yard listed. For six-strand cotton on 18 mesh, the thread and needle chart gives 4 to 6 strands.

You also need blank needlepoint canvas (mono canvas) in the mesh you choose (see mesh sizes), cut to the size in the table above, and a tapestry needle.

An estimate. The length of thread one stitch uses on the front and back of the canvas, times the number of stitches, plus 30 percent for starting, ending and the tail left in the needle. Each count is estimated as basketweave or continental and rounded up to a whole yard, so the yards in all are a little more than the thread calculator gives for every stitch at once. The 30 percent is this site's own choice. The thread calculator works the same estimate for any count and mesh.

Getting it onto your canvas

This is a counted chart: one square of the chart is one stitch. Find the center of your canvas and the center of the chart (the red arrows above and to the left of the chart), and count out from there, a color at a time.

Nothing is printed on the canvas, so no transfer is needed. How to needlepoint covers the first stitches.

Downloads

Each file has the thread key and the sizes on its first page, then the chart with a symbol in every square and a heavier line every ten. A chart too large for one page is divided over several, with two rows or columns repeated in gray where the pages join; a page may be turned on its side for a part that is wider than it is tall.

For your own stitching, gifts and handmade pieces you sell. Do not resell or share this PDF.

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